Musically Inclined
by Misao Mei Mei
Summary: If you've ever been in a musical ensemble, you know that you become good friends with the people around you. In my case, it's a little different than what I usually mean... [AxM] [AU] [Misao's POV]
1. Chapter 1

Musically Inclined Chapter One 

Disclaimer! Rurouni Kenshin doesn't belong to me, but to Nobuhiro Watsuki. Darn, maybe some day x

Well, here's my newest story, enjoy! I plan to have pretty short chapters, because I've realized that I don't like writing longer chapters anymore.

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If you've ever been in a musical ensemble, then you probably know that you get to become friends with the people around you. I guess you can say the same for me, though, I'll have to admit, it's much different than what I usually mean.

And if you really want to know the whole truth, then I'd have to start from the beginning, the way way beginning. But I don't want to get into that, so I won't. Besides, it doesn't really matter too much anyway.

It was the beginning of my senior year. I didn't even have to look at my schedule. Orchestra first, as always. The same old orchestra room; the old broken door. I'm kind of offended already; why didn't the school fix the door yet? And why didn't they fix up the orchestra room anyway. People still call it the old band room. And when it's raining it sounds like we're being bombed.

I swear, even if we _were_ being bombed, Hiko-senei wouldn't even flinch, we'd just keep playing, thinking it was the rain.

Besides, if the school can fix all the doors and have almost all new bathroom, why can't they fix up the orchestra room already?

I checked my watch-10 to eight-perfect amount of time. I went to the cafeteria to buy a bagel for breakfast. Then I went to the orchestra room, eight minutes before the bell and there's only one person already there.

Well, it's as expected. He _is_ the concermaster and totally into music.

He's also my stand partner, Shinomori Aoshi.

"Hey Aoshi."

He glanced up at me. "Misao."

"How was your summer?"

"Not too bad, yours?"

"It was good, thanks! I practiced hard. Let's see who comes out on top this year, eh?"

"We'll see."

Aoshi and I have a bit of a rivalry, you could say. I've known Aoshi for ages. Violinist from the beginning, the both of us. And even though we're competitive, we're still friends. He _is_ my stand partner after all. Aoshi and I actually became friends beginning of high school and we've been stand partners since. Freshman year, we were in the middle of the firsts; sophomore year, Aoshi was concert master and I was second stand, first chair. Junior year, we were first stand, Aoshi concermaster; and this year, it's the same. But auditions are coming up soon, and we'll see who's better.

It really does mean a lot to be his stand partner. I hardly have any other classes with him.

"Hey Aoshi, let me see your schedule." I scanned his class list and to my surprise, "Hey! We have lunch together. But that's it, well, except for orchestra of course."

"Good to hear."

"Meet me here, okay? We can find a table together."

"Sure."

We sit there for a few minutes, tuning our violins. I played the D string. Horrible! Half step flat! And I just practiced yesterday, too. Would someone please enlighten me? I just tuned it yesterday and already a half-step flat! Very strange...

The five minute bells rings and the orchestra room is flooded.

Kaoru comes chattering in with Megumi. Himura and Soujirou come in not too long later. as for the rest of them, I don't know them too well at all. Hiko-sensei sits at the podium, waiting for the bell to ring, so he can finally start rehearshal.

Ten minutes into the rehearshal, Sano walks in. Typical Sano, always coming in late, at least Hiko-sensei is lazy and doesn't mark up stuff like that. Sano's really quite lucky.

Wondering what they all play? Kaoru and Sano are part of the percussion, Megumi, flute; Himura, clarinet; Soujirou, viola.

This is going to be an awesome year!

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Welp, here's my newest story! I'd like to finish The Inevitable, but I'm not really into it right now, so this will hopefully occupy me.


	2. Chapter 2

Musically Inclined Chapter Two 

Standard disclaimers apply.

Thanks for your reviews guys! I really appreciate them. ) Also, just for the sake of not feeling stupid, the music that AxM will be playing will be the same as the music I'm playing this year in my school's symphony orchestra, okay? Oh, and we'll hear lots of things from Soujirou, since he's a violist and that's what I am myself. I can get my hands on first violin music, though... But I probably won't need to, I know enough already.

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My audition went fairly well. So I didn't quite know my prepared piece, but I had just picked it out a week or two ago anyway-I don't even remember what it's called. Some Divertimento in F major, I think. Who composed it is a mystery to me...do I even want to know? Well, yeah, but there are other pressing matters at hand. Like...beating Aoshi!

Sight-reading wasn't too bad, it was exactly easy, but it wasn't very difficult. Scales, as always, were pretty easy. Two octaves, easy as hell; three octaves, somewhat difficult, but that's what I have to do to stay on top. I just need to practice some more anyway.

"How'd you do?" Kaoru asked me.

"I think I did pretty well."

"Well enough to be concertmaster?"

"We'll see. At least you percussion don't have to audition for section leaders."

"I had to audition during the summer to get MSO, so be quiet. If you play a string instrument, you automatically get in."

"Not freshman."

"Well, obviously."

"And not if you get kicked out."

"Thank you Captain Obvious."

"I know, but still! You guys have it easy, you're automatically in."

"But that doesn't mean you automatically get first chair."

"Well, no, but still, if you want in, you're in. Easy as pie."

"You can't make pie." haha! Using Kaoru's cooking skills against her! I truly am a genius. Hold the applause.

"Be quiet!" She huffs away, feigning anger.

I saw Sou-chan practicing for his audition, even though violas don't go until tomorrow, after all the violins are done. So I went up to him.

"Hey Sou!"

"Hi Misao."

"What's your prepared piece?"

"Something in one of my old Wohlfahrt books. I couldn't find anything better, so I just picked up book 4 and picked something I liked."

It was a nice piece, I guess, but I can see why Sou was practicing so hard. It sounded like he just started it a few days ago!

"Sou?" I ask, "When did you start this piece?"

"A few days ago. I'm really such an idiot, I knew I should have started practicing sooner, but I didn't anyway. I might not get first chair this year..."

"Don't say that!!" I scold him. "You're the best there is!"

"You only say that because you don't pay attention to violas. We're so underappreciated."

"You are not."

"Yes we are, whenever we have a melody, the woodwinds and brass are still louder. How many stands of violins are there? Twenty? Thirty? Forty? Violas are lucky to even have ten stands!"

"You just can't stand to the superiority of violins."

"Oh no?" He retorts. "That's right, you caught me. What I really want to do is conform to being a boring violinist like you, my dear weasel."

A vein pops. "**I. Am. Not. A. Weasel.**"

"Oi! Weasel!" Sano calls.

Let's just say that Sano's bandana is tied a little too tight today.

I went back to my seat next to Aoshi. "How'd you do?"

"Good."

"Better than me?" I teased.

"Oh, never." He said, giving me a slight smirk.

"Shut up." I poked him with my bow. He deserved it. "I think I did well, too, so we'll see who comes out on top this year! (me of course!)"

"Wishful thinking."

"Relates to you!" I said. "We'll see soon enough...don't be surprised if I'm concertmaster this year!"

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MSO: Makoto Symphony Orchestra

Makoto: truth

I though it sounded nice and would be an interesting name for a high schol. Truth High School, stands for honesty. Get it?

No relation to Shishio, okay?


	3. Chapter 3

Musically Inclined Chapter Three 

Guess what? Turns out I didn't come out on top thsi year. I take it as gracefully as I could. I kind of knew that he'd be ahead of me, but it couldn't hurt to try, right? And I had fun teasing him. So all was well.

"Congrats." I said to him. "I'm sure it was close. I'll have to challenge you sometime this year."

"I welcome the challenge." He replied.

Perhaps I should explain. Challenges. If you're unhappy with your seating, you can challenge the person in the next chair. The person in the next chair is the person who is one level higher. In my case, Aoshi. Aoshi has no one to challenge, because he's the top, the best, there's no one in a higher chair than him. So anyway, once you challenge someone, you and him/her have a week to practice and prepare for the challenge. Then you two meet with Hiko and he pick out any parts of the piece that you're currently playing and whoever is the better player is awarded the higher seat.

So you could very well start out in the last stand, last chair of the second violins and get to be first stand, first chair second violin. Same with all the sections. 

"Alright everyone!" Hiko boomed as he walked into the room. "You have your seats and your music folders. Here's what we're playing this fall. Overture to Candide by Leonard Berstein, Carmen Suite by Bizet-we won't be playing the whole thing, Night on Bald Mountain by Moussoursky, and Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony finale. So let's get playing! Candide first."

I instantly love Candide. It's a great piece, and plus, it's by Leonard Berstein. The genius composer of West Side Story. Gotta love West Side Story.

"Stop! Stop!" Hiko puts his hand in the air. "It's sarcastic, mocking, ha-ha in your face. Now play it that way!"

A bit shorter on the quarter notes and more space between should do.

"Now cresendo on the eight notes!"

After more playing, he stop sus again. "Am I the only one who sees a repeat at three before 50?" We play it again, this time with the repeats. "Now lyrical, very pretty.....you're dragging!" He starts counting out loud. And he stops again. "It's lyrical, yes," he says, "but a fast lyrical."

After that we get through the rest of Candide pretty well. I must say, the ending is great. A short, soft note, then a loud, crashing chord. It's great, I guareentee you.

"Alright-Bizet now. The prologue is one the best every written! It's really intense. The violins and violas all have tremelos the entire time, and you guys have to play over that."

We barely got through the prologue when the bell rang. Everyone started to scramble to put their intruments away.

"Hey, Aoshi," I said. "What do you think of the music so far?"

"Not too bad this year. Candide is pretty interesting."

"I think I'm going to love Bizet after this."

"We'll see."

"Meet me here at lunch, okay? Aoshi?"

"Sure."

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"Sou!!!!!" I yelled across the cafeteria, hoping he would hear. "A little faster, Aoshi; you're not a turtle, you know." I tugged Aoshi's arm, tryign to make he walk a little faster.

"Hey Misao!" Sou greeted me with his ever-present smile.

"Bleh" I fell into the seat, Aoshi sitting down across from me. "I'm sooo tired. I knew I should have gone to bed earlier."

"Your fault, now you're paying for it."

"Shut up, Sou."

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Even if you're not into orchestral music, you should definately find some mp3's to listen to. Carmen is AMAZING. It's so fun to listen to, and Candide is something that you might enjoy as well. Night on Bald Mountain is in Fantasia, but the one that MSO is playing is a different version. Tchaik is really cool to listen to, the first movement is super-cool. Definately check them out!

Well, another chapter. It took a bit longer, because I was compliling notes for the music and the things that I wanted to mention in each piece during rehearshals. My orchestra's done with it currently, but I definately want to be able to talk at some kind of length on each piece. The romance will move slowly, but not to worry, it will progress. I just can't guareentee quick chapters, or even long ones or that matter. Oh well, enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

Musically Inclined - Chapter 4

Yep, I'm back. I don't know if I'll be writing a lot of this story for the summer, but I am writing a vignette a week over at my blog (log. Not fanfic vignettes...just vignettes. So go and enjoy (I've only got one up so far).

Sorry for the wait, can't guareentee any dramatic romance or angsty stuff, this one's more light-hearted and fun. Plus I am using many of my own signature phrases and my viola pride will come out through my dear Soujiro. (But I still love Aoshi more!)

Anyway, enjoy

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When you were a senior in high school, how many times were you asked about your major? Every chance that my family friends got, they would ask, "Misao-chan, have you decided what you want to major in? Music, perhaps?" Let me tell you sophomores and juniors now: run. Run far far away as your little legs can possibly go. 

Fortunately there _is_ a place where you can seek solace, the most unlikely place, too: school. Yes, it's truly the truth. In the cafeteria, you are finally able to hang around seniors who understand the "what's your major?" fright. And they can relate, what a plus!

"Are you applying to Juliard?"

"Maybe."

"Why 'maybe'?"

"Might go for a different major."

"Well, you should definately go for it. You're concertmaster! That should at least convince you to apply. And if you aren't accepted, who cares? You're smart enough to study something else."

This is what I'd like to call 'the senior-to-senior college talk.' It's mostly trying to convince a friend to apply to a school that you think they could go to, but they don't think they can. It's really quite frustrating. I mean, honestly, you'd think that Aoshi, the concertmaster, the best violinist in the school, would be applying there! The nerve of this guy!

"Sou, don't you think that Aoshi should apply to Juliard?" This is called 'back up from people who agree with you.' Don't ask for backup from people who don't.

He bobs his head, chewing his sandwich at the same time.

"See, Aoshi? Sou agrees with me."

"Doesn't mean anything."

"What! Yes, it does! Besides, you always get the solos..."

"There are such things as 'duets.'"

"I know; I'm not stupid, okay?"

"You sure about that?" Sou chimes in.

"As sure as I am about violas - "

"Being the best intrument in the entire world?"

"After violins of course!"

"Doubtful."

"The violin is a very beautiful instrument, you should appreciate it more."

"So is the viola, even more so. People appreciate violins enough anyway."

Well, he's right about that. Better change subjects. "You're just trying to make me forget about bugging Aoshi!"

"Well, what's your major going to be then?"

"A very popular one called 'Undecided.'"

"What!" Sou jumped up with surprise. "You're bothering Aoshi about his major when you haven't chosen yours!"

"Yes," I replied ( _and_ with my signature sass), "and I can't bring myself to care."

They both just sighed.

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Review and make me feel special. 


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